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DELIVERED BEFORE THE BAR OF PHILADELPHIA, 



February //, 7865 } 



I'.Y 



CHARLES J. BIDDLE. 




Q A f> J 





DPON THK 



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|0ti. mtotnt fpfflin 




DELIVERED BEFORE THE BAR OF PHILADELPHIA, 



, "February 77 ; 7865 



CHARLES J. BIDDLE. 



h 












MI. \n, II I. IN BROTHERS, l'RINTEHS. PHILADELPHIA. 



iHcctinq of the Itfar: 

5 eg 



A large meeting of the members of the Bar was held in the District 
Court room, January 3d, 1865, for the purpose of paying a tribute to the 
memory of the late Hon. George M. Dallas. Most of the distinguished 
members of the Bar were present, and the occasion was very impressive. 
Chief Justice Woodward presided, and Benjamin II. Brewster, Esq., 
Hon. Richard Vaux, and Hon. William A. Borter acted as Secretaries. 
Immediately after the organization, Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll delivered 
the following brief eulogy : 

" It is not a rare event to lose a distinguished member of the Bar. It is 
not more rare to assemble and express sincere regret for his departure. The 
feeling of the companions of years who have witnessed his merits in fre- 
quent display, is keen and deeply expressed. None can be insensible to 
tin evi nt of the separation, or willing and able to withhold an expression of 
sympathy and sorrow. When an event in itself not extraordinary calls for 
extraordinary marks of regret and distress, and receives the expression of 
them, without a dissenting thought, and only echoes with its own responsive 
throbbing of a feeling heart the sentiment engendered spontaneously, and 
firmly and cordially uttered, the occurrence itself or the party mourned, 
must have been entitled to more than every day sorrow, or even sorrow 
which only at distant intervals sheds its tears. We are survivors of one 
who united in himself properties which would have been rare if separate, 
but are freely acknowledged when combined in the same individual. In 
giving utterance to the sentiments of esteem, respect and affection, which 
were welcome to those who were intimate with the late George M. Dallas, 
it is scarcely possible to speak with calmness or without danger of saying 
what to those who had not the strictest right to sympathy, would ap] 
extravagant or unjust. And yet where shall we look for merit most un- 
doubted, and sentiments always pure, if not in him? 

The members of the Bhiladelphia Bar have learned with deep affliction 
the decease of George Mifflin Dallas, who was long their esteemed and 
admired associate and cherished friend. 

It has become a duty not less certain than painful, but mingled with 
sentiments not unwelcome in their character, to unite in the expression of 
condolence, regret and sorrow. The melancholy event cannot be recalled, 
for it was the will of Heaven. While we submit to the decree with con- 
scious feelings of a stern necessity, we may lessen its force and give firmness 
to the patience of our sub by an expression of the profound res 



and warm attachment which were his doe in life, and canm 

in his death. A brief delineation of his unspotted character is be< 

elves, an - so to him who is no more. An eminence in pi 

u employment was his universally acknowledged position at home. It 
was also his unsought distinction to receive fame and ornament abroad. 
These were bestowed and could not fail to be I in various contribu- 

irned reputation. A 1 and 

literary] was the from which he drew his reput 

in pu e. As a r he uttered, and as a scholar he com] 

on many the fruit of much that he had studied with the 

advantage, and communicated only with continued augmentation of his 
well-earned farm-. A diplomatic life was an occasional relief <•: 
duty, ami it was fulfilled at different European Courts, with continued 
honor to himself and reputation to bis native land. In the do -• ;ircle 
he was a pattern of kindness; and it is not extravagant to Bay that he was 
there adored. In social intercourse, where enjoymept was fell imu- 

nicated by himself and Ins many friends, his deportment was gracious 
oners always kind. 

David Paul Bbowk, Esq., who followed, said: — I have few words t<> 
say after the very eloquent expressions of sentiment by my i 
venerable friend, in relation to the lamented event which has brought us 
together. Death is near to us all. Our departed friend is to be c 
to that grave which is a pillow of repose, where all rest and never more 
wake to this world's toils. It is tit however, and it is commendable, that 
those who knew him best, and loved him most, should express tl. 
ments in regard to this sad bereavement, and thereby impart to others the 
benelit of his vn le. It was -aid in former times. "1 

whom tl love die young." That was the doctrine of an unspiritual 

mythology. It -. trine that had regard to what may be <■. • - 

negative blessing — tie tempt from the toils and 

tins life, but in that doctrine they "skipped the tint 
There is a more pleasant and a more solemn di 

of all 1 ks, "tl .-ray head is a crown of glory if it be found in 

the way ol This embraces both worlds — the d 

are the earnest of the w >rld to Mr. Dallas has 

gathered in the richness of his years to his reward. His life was a life of 
merits. It taught him affection to nil around him; it taught him his duty 

- fellow men lit him t 1 deeds to 1..- rewarded 1 

It l- not for him 1 feel, but lor those from whom he has been withdrawn, 
at a period of time when his counsel and his aid would have been most 

hi for, lie i- at rest, hut Ins wife and children Buffer. 

Judge Cadwaladeb Baid: — If it were not prematu after 

death to suggest consolation to his surviving friend-, they may derive it 
from a retrospect of him who has just departed. It was a life of sunshine, 
and I believe that there ! ly lived a man on whom the ill- of mor- 



tality sal more lightly than upon Mr. Dallas. It maynol be uninteresting 
to consider the probable cause of tins distinguishing trail of Mr. Dallas. 
1 think it was that his life was varied wholesomely and usefully with pur 
suits not exclusively professional. It made him a friend of the buman r: 
He was the brother of the judge on the bench; he was the thirteenth juror; 
he was the friend of the widow ; be was the fair antagonisl of the party he 
opposed. All was kind, all was natural. His life was thai of one who 
thought and acted naturally. We all feel that had he lived longer there 
might have been an alley to these pleasant ways of life. I may say that 
one of the peculiar circumstances of this characteristic life of Mr. Dallas 
was particularly owing to his absence al one time from the country, and 
that he had never fully fit tie- magnitude of the evils with which we are 
now oppressed. He could scarcely conceive that a calamity had arrived 
that clouded this sunshine of his .lays. 1 say no more on that subject. I 
mention it as an instance typical of Ins uniform benevolence, a disposition, 
which is so graceful as man advances in life, to look upon tin- better side of 
human lit". 

George M. Wharton, Esq., followed: — Although younger than Mr. 
Pallas, 1 was favored with many opportunities of seeing and admiring him. 
I am old enough to recollect him when he was in his prime, and 1 can bear 
testimony to the admirable manner in which he conducted himself as a 
practitioner. Re was not what may he called an animated speaker, but he 
was always impressive, and his language was always that of a scholar and 

utleman. No man could he intimate with Mr. Dallas without feeling 
a deep veneration for him. It arose mainly from that kindly warmth of 
temp, lament winch attracted him to everybody, and attracted everybody 
to him. 

CHARLES EngERSOLL was the next speaker, and in a few words he paid 
a tribute to the memory of the deceased. 

Colonel Page next introduced the following resolutions: 

Resolved, That the chairman appoint a committee of seven to furnish 
a copy of the proceedings to the family of the late Mr. Dallas, and cause 
the publication of the same in the daily papers. 

Resolved, That the liar will attend the funeral, and wear the usual 

_ie of mourning. 

Resolved, That the chairman be requested, at his leisure, to appoint 
some gentleman to pronounce a eulogy on the late Mr. Dallas. 

I be following is the committee appointed under the resolution : 
Josiah Randall, Hon.GEOKni: Sharswood, Hon. < Iswald Thompson, Hon. 
John M. Read, Hon. Garrick Mallery, William Badger, Esq., Henry 
M. Phillips, Esq. 



Philadelphia, February 25th, 1865. 



Deai 



We beg leave to thank you for the very aide and efficient manner in 
which you discharged your duties as the Eulogist of the late Hon. <;eorge 
M. Dallas, and respi ctfully ask you for a copy of the Address delivered 
at the Hall of the University of Pennsylvania, on the evening of the 11th 
inst., with a view to its publication, in pamphlet form. 

Very truly, your obedient servants, 

JAMES PACK. 
DAVID PAUL BROWN, 
tl. M. WHARTON, 
BENJAMIN II. BREWSTER, 
MORTON P. HENRY, 

iTommittee of arrangements, Ac 
To Hon. i '. .). Biddle. 



i I.LMKN . — 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of this 
morning. A copy of the Eulogy on Me. Dallas, as published in one of 
the journals of this city, I send, herewith, in compliance with your request ; 
and for the very courteous terms in which you havi 
j ou to accept my thanks. 

Very respectfully and truly, 

Your obedieni servant, 



CHARLES J. BIDDLE. 



I'n 1 1. \ in lphia, February 25th, 1865. 



To Jakes Page, David I'm i Brown, G. M. Wharton, Benjahid ii. 
Brewster, and Morton P. Henry, essqs. 

Eommittrc of Smngrmrnta, .\r. 



KU LOGY. 



The Bar of Philadelphia, assembled to pay a tri- 
bute of respect to the memory of its eminent and 
lamented member, George Mifflin Dallas, resolved 
— in addition to the usual ceremonial — that a public 
Eulogy should be delivered upon him as one who had 
afforded, in and beyond the profession, no common 
example of public and private virtue. 

The performance of this duty has been assigned 
to me. and, though I would rather have devolved it 
to abler hands, I obey promptly the call with which 
I have been honored. 

I shall eulogize him by telling, as simply and faith- 
fully as I can, the story of his life. Not fully, for 
that is the office of biography; but briefly, and with 
the incompleteness that belongs to the form in which 
I have the honor to address you. 

He was born at Philadelphia, on the 10th day of 
July, A. D. 1792. 

Every man derives from his progenitors some traits 
of physical, moral, or intellectual character. This is 
as true of him who boasts himself a " self-made man," 
as it is of those who owe an obligation to parental in- 
struction and example. 

Mr. Dallas was fortunate in all the circumstances 
of his parentage. In writing of them in after life he 
said : 



8 

" I care little for the accidental honors of birth; mv habit of thought 
has led me, perhaps unduly, to depreciate them; but I b i a thought 

that there was nothing for which I ought to be more grateful to my Divine 
Author than his having permitted me to spring from two persons of correct 
lives, good moral sentiments, and large mental attainments." 

To these advantages, we may add. that, like the 

younger Pitt. Mr. Dallas was the carefully trained son 
of an eminent father, and was by him directed early 
towards a career of public usefulness and distinction. 

The Dallas family was originally from Scotland, 
and has. on both sides of the Atlantic, been prolific 
of distinguished men. Without enumerating all, 1 
may mention to the profession the names of Sir 
Robert Dallas. President Judge of the Common Pleas, 
in England, and Trevanion Dallas. President Judge 
of the Common Pleas, of Alleghany county, Penn- 
sylvania. I will mention, also, an alliance that con- 
nects the family with one whose name is familiar to 
you all. Charlotte Henrietta Dallas, who was the 
aunt of the late Mr. Dallas, married Captain Byron 
of the British navy, and her son is the present Lord 
Byron, successor to the estate and title of his cousin. 
George Gordon Byron, whose poetic genius and ^ < - 1 1 - 
erous devotion to the cause of Greece were distinc- 
tions higher than hereditary honors. 

But the father of Mr. Dallas was an American ; 
Alexander -lames Dallas, like Alexander Hamilton, 
was born on one of the Islands that pertain, geo- 
graphically, ti» the American continent. 

He received his education in England, and con- 
tracted there an early and happy marriage with 
Arabella Maria Smith, the daughter of an officer in 
the British army. In 17S1. he returned to his birth- 
place Jamaica. 



9 

The war of American independence was then 
waging on the adjacent continent, and his sympathy 
with the colonies in their conflict with the mother 
country, and his clear perception of its result, prompt- 
ed Alexander Dallas to throw off, forever, the char- 
acter of a British subject. Coming to this city, in 
June, 1783, he took immediately the oath of allegiance 
to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which, in 
September of the same year, was recognized by Great 
Britain, in the treaty of peace, as a "free, sovereign, 
and independent State." 

It is not my purpose to dwell upon the career of 
this eminent man, further than it connects itself 
closely with my subject. The late Mr. Dallas found 
leisure to prepare a life of his father. To this manu- 
script I have had access, and a cursory perusal war- 
rants me in saying that it is a literary production of 
great merit and interest, which ought not to be lost 
to the public. From this memoir, I extract a picture 
of the domestic character of the elder Dallas. It 
illustrates also the character of the son, by showing 
the social influences that moulded it; and many of 
} 7 ou will trace with interest the strong family like- 
ness between him and his father. 

" My recollections of my father are still, after the lapse of nearly half a 
century, very vivid, accompanied by tin- warmest attachment and the deep- 
est veneration. All his children regarded him as their most delightful 
companion, instructor and friend. His labors in scenes of lmsiness- 
fessional or political — were unceasing, but his happinen red in his 

domestic circle. Deriving great pleasure from social intercourse, he n 
theless pn ferred that it should be under his own roof, and shared by his 
family. < >ne of the established institutions of his household was the " cold 
cut," or fragmentary supper, which, between ten and eleven, rallied all the 
inin ' a lively chat and a gay good night. 

They whose stations or | t profound meditation gradually 

to be what are termed men of the world, and, at home I, are 

incapable of that prompt and light communion so full of domestic en d 
ment, and so graceful in general society. It was otherwise with him. He 



10 



would retire to 1 . with the n. 

of law, arrange an entangled mass of fact.-, or resumi 1 of original 

com] osition, without any a] parent effort. When, however, thus inv 

llest- of interruption, and at the call of affection, or of frolic, 
would Lreak off with joyous abruptness, and betray not the s\i{ 
torn of pre-occnpation. How oiten did th> ■ ! delight 

his friends ' M< st frequently th< y were manifested wlien his children, heed- 
hors, invoked Lis enlivening ] reeence, always finding him in 
their fii< i te, their gayest 

A Bingle instance may adequately illustrate this trait of ■ 

Late in the evening, he was I usily engaged in methodizing note.- for bis 

argument in the morning before Judge Washington, in thecelebrated "Olm- 

wbile his lamily circle, in the adjoining parlor, were equally 

intent on framing a set of original "conversation cards." The youthful 

Jiarty undeitook to write on one side of each blank card an emphati 
eading word, and on the other side an a] pn j riate couplet. A bun 
boisterous mirth drew him irom his office, and being in 
of the nature of the pastime, and called upon to assist, he remained for 
about fifteen minutes absent from his papers, and endorsed several of the 
cards with lines of poetry : 



"MISS LIVINGSTON. 

O'er liveless marbh lei Pygmalion moan; 
We bail the graces "i a I.i\ iii^st.m. 

" FBI l N DSHIP." 

The delusions of life will teach you ere long, 

'In compound for no nood, if you suiter no wrong, 

For friendship romantic in search while you go, 

I \ i iy man Is my friend, sir,— who is not my u >e. 

" IInMl 

Thai •• home is home" I can't agree; 
For lei me with mj Mary roam. 
Through every land, o'er every sea, 
I still will rind myself— at home: 
The spot of birth, the scat of fame 
The cottage thatch or palace dome, 
May mark an era, eiA <■ a name 
But Mary's bosom is my home." 

The scholastic instruction of youne Dallas was 
completed at that ancient seat of learning, Princeton 
College. He was graduated there in is In. receiving 
the first honor, and delivering the valedictory address, 
in which the early Graces of his oratory attracted 
much attention. He then began the study of the law 
in his father's office. In doing so, he seems to have 
laid down for himself a certain distribution of his 
time, which is preserved in a manuscript volume of 
his youthful writings. Possibly, the rules may have 
been suggested by his paternal instructor. They 



allow, daily, four hours to "law." This is two hours 
less than Lord Coke prescribes to the student ; but 
the genera] education of a youth of eighteen war- 
ranted the Large allowance made for other studies, 
including the modern languages, which amply fill up 
all the day, from seven in the morning till ten at 
night, and leave little room for idleness or amusement. 
The onl}' day of rest is appropriately devoted to 
•• Church ami the Bible." One allotment of time may 
interest you. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 
from " dinner till five o'clock," was to be devoted to 
•• politics." This may have been for the perusal of 
formal treaties, but I suspect that the best lessons in 
politics of the son of Alexander Dallas were received 
at dinner, — I mean in social intercourse with his 
father and his friends. It may be well for me to 
say something, now, of the school of politics in 
which George Dallas was thus a pupil ; a school of 
which his father and his eminent compeers were the 
founders. 

It was an American school — that sought to free 
the new government from the rule of European pre- 
cedents. 

There were statesmen at that day — and they were 
men of ability and patriotism — whose inclination, in 
forming and construing the Federal constitution, was 
to augment and extend the Federal power till it should 
control all the important interests of the States. 

But Jefferson — and with him Alexander Dallas 
cordially agreed — looked upon such a pervading, im- 
perial government for the States as only too like the 
very government which had lately driven the colonies 



12 

to revolution. That revolution had been provoked 
by the attempts of the British parliament to usurp 
the functions of the Colonial Legislatures, under the 
pretension asserted in the act of XI George the III. 
to "full power and authority to make laws and stat- 
utes to hind the colonies and people of America. Bub- 
jects of the Crown of Great Britain, in all cases 
whatsoever." 

These events of colonial history had afforded new 
light to American thinkers upon the science of govern- 
ment. They had held high debate with the mother 
country upon the distinction between external and 
internal taxes; upon the nature of actual and "virtual" 
representation. The problem to be solved in the new 
government was how to combine federal strength with 
the freedom of local action which the colonies had 
always claimed and, at last, asserted by force of arms. 
The constitution of the United State- solved this 
problem, and. after the adoption of the ten amend- 
ments, satisfied Jefferson and his disciples. It seemed 
to secure the Liberties of the people against encroach- 
meni from either Legislative or executive power, and 
t he one was, with t hem. as much an objeel of mistrust 
as the other. They held it to be a principle essential 
to just Legislation, thai- the legislators should 

REPRESEN1 \M> SHARE THE [NTERESTS I POH WHICH THEY 

legislated. This principle was evolved in the Long 
dispute with Great Britain, in the course of which 
the ministry, ai one time, proposed to give to the 
American colonics an illusory representatioD in the 
British parliament. This principle was embodied 
in the federal Constitution, which withheld all local 



13 

and particular interests from the jurisdiction of Con- 
gress, entrusting to it only such powers as would, in 
execution, operate generally upon the people of all 
the States. 

Thus the rule of the majority, established by our 
institutions, was made just and reasonable, as being 
the sense of the larger part of each community, upon 
its own affairs, and not the hostile force of numbers 
directed against interests in which the voters had no 
part. 

Such were the views of the elder democrats, then 
styled republicans. Their theory of government 
made provision for a great family of free States, each 
administering intelligently its own separate interests; 
the very opposite to the tyranny of one or many, in 
a consolidated empire. John Taylor, of Caroline, 
once a famous, now a neglected writer on politics, 
was the friend of Jefferson, and an expounder of his 
views. Taylor, says : 

" Majorities and their rights arc • of social compact, and not 

endowed by nature with political power. They are compounded of men, 
exclusive of women, minors, and others. They are a social being, and no 
duty can accrue to any majority but to one established by social compact, 
because no other majority exists possessed of any political rights." 

Madison, writing in 1788, of the constitution then 
just adopted, adverts to "the danger of oppression" 
from acts in which "the government is the mere 
instrument of the major number," but he finds "secu- 
rity" in the "limited powers of the Federal govern- 
ment, and the jealousy of the subordinate govern- 
ments." 

It is not within my province to vindicate this 
school of statesmen from some prejudice which has 



14 

attached to it, in our daw from the cxiv-i- of followers 
and tin' misrepresentations of adversaries. 1 rehearse 
ii- doctrines now, only that I may say intelligibly: 
these are the principles with which George Dallas 
was imbued in boyhood, and to which he adhered. 
consistently, through life. 

In the studies I have mentioned, he now passed 
more than two years, under liis father's root*. Oratory 
was not neglected. From the leading literary maga- 
zine of the day, the Port Folio, he received, in the 
number for May, 1810, a compliment not often paid 
to speakers so juvenile, in the publication of his 
oration "Upon the Moral Effects of Memory." 

His habits at this time were studious and literary, 
as I am informed by two of his surviving cotempo- 
raries; they tell me, too, that his morals were as 
exemplary in youth as in his maturer years. 

This tranquil course of life was interrupted by the 
war which was declared againsl Great Britain, in 
June, 181_!. Young Dallas immediately joined one 
of the volunteer companies forming in this city : bul 
another direction was soon given to his career. A 
proffer of mediation between the two belligerents was 
made by the Emperor of Russia. President .Madison 
immediately accepted this oiler, and appointed two 
commissioners, Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard, to join 
our minister. Mr. Adams, at St. Petersburg. Mr. 
Dallas, at the instance of his lather, went with Mr. 
Gallatin as bis secretary, being, however, lirst ad- 
mitted to the bar, though not ye1 of age; the court 
relaxing, under the circumstances, the general rule. 
When the commissioners reached St. Petersburg, they 



15 

learned from Mr. Adams that Great Britain was not 
the least inclined to enter into negotiations there, 
under the auspices of Russia. This brought their 
errand to a stand. The course which they then 
adopted shows that young Dallas had inspired his 
eminent associates with great confidence in his 
abilities. They sent him, alone, to London, to concert 
there some mode of opening negotiations for peace. 

1 am not here to discuss the events that belong to 
public history, but to advert, briefly, to Mr. Dallas's 
persona] share in them. His mission to Loudon was 
successful, and initiated the arrangements which 
brought the representatives of the United States and 
Great Britain to a conference at Ghent, in Belgium. 
He improved his stay in England, in seeing men and 
things of celebrity and interest. In the journal of 
Lord Byron, as published in Moore's life of him, I 
find this entry : 

" Dallam's nephew (son to the American Attorney General) is arrived 
in this country, and tells Dallas that my rhymes are very popular in the 
United States." These are the first tidings thai have ever Bounded like fame 
to my ears— to be redde on the banks of the Ohio * * 
To be popular in a rising and tar country has a kind of posthumous feel, 
very different from the ephemeral >r-lat and feteing, buzzing, ami party-ing 
compliments of the well-dressed multitude." 

In his first intercourse with the British peer, the 
young American stood upon his dignity, and. after one 
call, would not make another, till his visit had been 
returned. On this point he would not admit the privi- 
lege of the peerage, as urged by his kinsman and Lord 
Byron's friend and connection R. C. Dallas, of whose 
beneficial influence over the wayward poet there are 
many indications in his memoirs. The point of 
etiquette was, however, adjusted, and some pleasant 



L6 

intercourse with Byron was among Mr. Dallas's 
reminiscences of his Btay in London. 

From England Mr. Dallas went to join the Ameri- 
can commissioners at Ghent, who had been reinforced 

by the arrival of Henry Clay. Mr. C. J. [ngersoll, 

the historian of the war, whose habitual resort to tin/ 
best authorities must have Led him to seek information 
from Dallas, his townsman and friend, says that the 
high spirit of the great Kentuckian had a happy 
influence with his colleagues. At this time, the Bri- 
tish government, allied with the great power- of 
Europe, and flushed with their success againsl Napo- 
leon, as well as with the recent capture of Washington, 
assumed a haughty tone towards the representatives 
of the United States. As preliminaries to negotiation 
for peace, it prescribed terms so arrogant that our 
commissioners instantly rejected them. They did 
more; prompted by their knowledge of the temper of 
the American people. They dispatched Dallas to 
carry to his government with the utmost expedition 
the insulting proposals of Great Britain, not for con- 
sideration, but for a very dilferciit purpose. Dallas 
made what was then thought a rapid voyage, landed 
at New 5Tork, and hurried on to Washington, riving, 
on the way. one hour to his family, at Philadelphia. 
There he saw his father, who hail accepted the office 
hut had not yet assumed the duties of Secretary of 
the Treasury. I find a letter dated Philadelphia, 7th 
October, L814, from Alexander Dallas to Richard 
Hush, then Attornev General, saving: 

"My arprisedthe family las) night, on his way from Ghent 

to Wa in. We passed an hour with him, and he pn 

surprise, to animate the Legislative patriots who are fortunately as 

(in the Pol 



17 

George Dallas, arriving at Washington, found Mr. 
Madison living in lodgings near the smouldering ruins 
of the presidential mansion, which the British had 
lately given to the flames. His appearance was care- 
worn, and, to the eye of the casual observer, might 
have seemed dejected. Pacific by temper and prin- 
ciple, his uncongenial task was to keep alive the war 
spirit of his country, depressed by a powerful and 
dangerous combination of his political adversaries. 
Dallas gave him the dispatches. There is a publishei 1 
a ccount of this interview, probably derived from Dallas. 
The President read, and, as he read, his eye brightened 
and his color rose, till, at last, he started up, exclaim- 
ing, with unwonted animation, "this will do! this 
will do !" and then he added " they will unite the 
American people, which is what we most need ; no 
patriotic citizen of any party will hesitate a moment 
to reject conditions so extravagant and unjust." It 
was for this that the commissioners had sent them ; 
they were instantly published to the country, and 
produced the effect anticipated. With the subsequent 
negotiations Dallas had no concern, nor, therefore, 
have I, on this occasion. 

It was about this period that his father took upon 
himself the arduous duties of a post which his two 
predecessors had cpiitted in despair. I have not time 
to dwell on the success in finance of this great "Phila- 
delphia lawyer." His son remained with him for a 
time in the Treasury department, aiding his lather 
and increasing his own knowledge of affairs. 

The son of the Secretary of the Treasury, return- 
ing from important foreign service, would not have 



18 

lacked advancement from executive favor; but Dallas 
was bent upon professional success, aud he returned 
to Philadelphia. 

I have dwelt upon the benefit that he derived in 
boyhood from his lather's care; but you will note 
that his pupilage did not extend beyond the ordinary 
term. We have seen him, while yet under age, sent 
alone to thread the mazes of foreign diplomacy ; now, 
in his lather's absence, he begins, alone, his struggle 
at the bar. They were, in fact, never associated in 
practice, the father dying immediately alter his return 
to it. It was upon his own powers that ( leorge Dallas 
relied, and with such confidence that he now married, 
being- in the twenty-fourth year of his age. Those 
who tell me of the purity and diligence of his youth, 
ascribe a happy influence to an early attachment. 
which was now rewarded b} r a union with its object. 
On the 23d of May. L816, he was united to Sophia, 
daughter of Philip Nicklin, Esq., of this city, and 
from that day he dated a long life of unalloyed 
domestic happiness. 

His first professional appearance may interest you. 
It interested his father, who. amid his financial cares, 
received this report of it from Charles J. Lngersoll, 

under the date of 

Philadelphia, 27th April, 1816. 

My Deab Sib: — 

I have been too much occupied lately to write you an account, how- 
ever slioi t , oi 'b debut, which li<- made in the Circuit Court in a 
manner to do Inn redit and afford you great ; 
two "i' our criminal cases, indictments against mutin< ad, with 
the exception <•! a Bingle word, which 1 i I had the opportunity of 
asking the explanation of Ins j • ition, 1 do not believe that 
crowded audience, there was one who was not gratified with his lirst ap] 
ance. lli> person and deportment, you know, are agreeable. lhs address 
was distinguished from mosl othei -i in not being a speech. It 



L9 

steel of a clear explanation of the law, and a particular narrative oi 
without effort or geaeral observation; and I can assure you that — 
though the occasion did noi per mi I a i disclosure of talent — there 

v. i [ecided indication of the best abilities for the bar. There was method, 
of course clearness, perfect Belf-possession with mi confidem e, and the .■ 

te share of so few young men to say no mo in the 
Bubjecl would bear. His language, manner, and enunciation were excellent, 
and he convicted the prisoners almost without my interference al all. 

His rise in the profession was rapid and brilliant. 
He matched himself successfully with his ablest com- 
petitors, some of whom — the seniors of our bar — still 
live in the enjoyment of their fame ; many are gone, 
but transitory as professional reputation is, theirs is 
well-known to most of you, who have been, to some 
extent, their cotemporaries. I have dwelt, at some 
length, upon the period of his life that formed his 
character and that is most remote from your personal 
knowledge. I must pass more rapidly over an ensu- 
ing period. He sought no office that would withdraw 
him from his profession. In the line of it, he held 
several important positions. I enumerate them now 
without regard to the date of each appointment. He 
was Deputy Attorney General for the city of Phila- 
delphia; Deputy Attorney General for the city and 
county of Philadelphia; District Attorney of the 
United States; Solicitor of the Bank of the United 
States; Commissioner of Bankrupts; Attorney Gen- 
eral of the State of Pennsylvania; Solicitor of the 
county of Philadelphia. He declined the office of 
Attorney General of the United States, which was 
offered to him by President Van Buren. In L828, 
he was elected Mayor of Philadelphia, but though 
the duties, less onerous then than now. did not 
interfere much with his practice, he soon resigned 
the office. 



20 

1 shall not rehearse to you the familiar story of a 
lawyer's life. It affords few salient points, for such 
brief notice as my limits allow. I will add, however, 
a few words upon the characteristics of Mr. Dallas as 
a member of the profession. First, lie was heartily 
fond of the profession, and preferred it to anj other 
calling in the ordinary business of life. This entry 
appears in his diary, at a time when he was a Senator 
of the United States : 

"The more I reflect, the more I am reconciled to entire privacy of 
Btation and ] i nal pursuits; anything in life but a dependence upon 

executive patronage; although I have, heretofore been frequently il 
I never did, and never will pursue it." 

Consider a moment, and you will give this more 
credit than is commonly given to such declarations. 
It is true that an honorable ambition prompted him 
to accept public employments of great dignity when 
tendered to him; but political office, for itself or its 
emoluments, he seems never to have sought. The 
first that he accepted was one of the highest — that of 
Senator of the United States ; all the early and sub- 
ordinate positions which he took were "law oitices," 
to get himself on ///, not to get himself out of the 
profession. From three long absences he returned to 
it with zeal, and with remarkable ease reclaimed his 
place in it. This alacrity to return from high office 
to the coi nn ion routine of practice was a peculiar trait 
in him, not shared by many. He did not derive it 
from his father, who. in like circumstances, in L816, 
wrote to a friend : 

" 1 will not disguise from you, that 1 i as the time approaches 

for my return u> the business "i tin- bar. Two years have produced great 
changes in the profession, and 1 feel as u 1 w. re about to begin the v, 

-a." 



21 

From what I have seen and heard of Mr. Dallas, 
I think his style of speaking at the bar was formed 
quite early, and did not alter much. His attitudes 
and gestures had a grace which conformed so well 
with his usual bearing that I believe it was unstudied ; 
in maturer rears, it certainly had become perfectly 
natural to him. Careless speakers, or those who in 
practice of the u ars celare artem' affect carelessness, 
might have called his manner, "formal." Unless 
when roused to unusual fervor, his enunciation was 
very deliberate. He seemed to choose his words, and 
utter them emphatically, as if entitled to great weight. 
They always had great weight with juries, and it 
was increased by his reputation for personal honor 
and integrity. It would be alike presumptuous and 
invidious for me to attempt to compare, critically, his 
merits as an advocate with those of the other great 
lawyers of his day. Certainly, neither at its meri- 
dian nor towards its close, was there any man in the 
profession who could treat him as other than a for- 
midable antagonist in the trial of a case, civil or 
criminal, for he was equally at home in either branch 
of practice, which is a circumstance by no means 
common. He was the very pink of courtesy in his 
demeanor to the bench, to the witnesses, and to the 
opposing counsel. This secured him from those 
angry collisions in which the advocate forgets the 
wrongs of his client, in resenting his own. But there 
was no lukewarmness in his advocacy; nor did he 
rest content with such display as might seem due to 
his own reputation, or to fees received. He took 
throughout, a zealous interest in his client's cause; 



22 

his preparation was ample and timely; lie WBS punct- 
ual and exact, ami neglected nothing. He seemed, bow- 
ever, to do his work easily, without any appearance 
of hurry or oppression. The old poet Chancer, de- 
scribing the lawyer of his day. says 

'• No man so busy as he there n'as, 
And yet he seemid busier than he was." 

The reverse of this was true of Mr. Dallas: he 
seemed less busy than he was. and made no parade 
of his labor. A friend who was, probably as often 
as any one, his junior in important eases, tells me he 
never was with any senior, who took so full a share 
of the labor. He adds a remark so happy, that I 
give it in his own words : •• Mr. Dallas seemed always 
to have in his mind our oath of professional office, 
' to behave with all good fidelity, as well to the court 
as to the client; to use no falsehood, nor delay any 
person's cause for lucre or malice." This fidelity to 
the court assured him a weight and favor with it. 
not less than his eloquence and tact obtained with 
juries. No judge ever suspected chicane or indirec- 
tion in Mr. Dallas. His law arguments, prepared 
with great care, proved that he belonged to one or 
the other of the two division- of good lawyers — 
'•those who know the law. and those who know 
where to find it." There were cases into which he 
brought, with great effect, his political views of the 
structure of our government, and the derivation of 
legislative power. Such a case was Sharpless vs. the 

Mayor of Philadelphia, reported in 9. Bands, which 
I heard him argue with signal ability. It was a suit 
in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, to test the 
validity of an Act of Assembly authorizing subscrip- 



23 

tions by the city of Philadelphia to certain public 
works. The constitutionality of the act was main- 
tained by Mr. Dallas, and affirmed by the court. 
Another important case, the Mayor of Philadelphia 
vs. the Commissioners of Spring Garden, briefly re- 
ported in 7. Barr, afforded an opportunity for a pro- 
found political argument from Mr. Dallas, which, I 
am well assured, changed the views of one of the 
judges, and secured a majority of the court for the 
defendants — the appellants in the case — for whom 
Mr. Dallas, with other eminent counsel, appeared. 

But I must now follow him to a wider field. In 
1831, he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the represen- 
tation of Pennsylvania, in the Senate of the United 
States. Mr. Dallas, on taking his seat in December 
of that year, w T as one of the youngest members of 
the body, which then included more men of ability 
than at any other period of its existence. It has 
been aptly termed "the golden age of American ora- 
tory." His whole course in the Senate was distin- 
guished, but I shall follow it only upon two questions. 

The first is the application for re-charter by the 
Bank of the United States. This question 1 shall 
discuss so far as may be necessary to show the position 
in which Mr. Dallas stood upon it. To do this clearly 
one or two preliminary observations appear to me to 
be necessary. The canvass for the Presidency in 
1824, exhibited what seems, in these times, a singular 
spectacle; there were tour candidates — all of the same 
party. General Jackson, Mr. Adams. Mr. (lay and 
Mr. Craw lord were all republicans, according to the 
political nomenclature of that day. The case arose in 



24 

which, by the provisions of the Constitution, the 
Presidenl is chosen by the State-, through their dele- 
gations in the House of Representatives. The friends 
of Mr. Adams and of Mr. Clay, secured the election 
of the former. Upon this, violent crimination and 
recrimination ensued among the candidates ; and their 
personal griefs and private conduct furnished the 
themes of political discussion until the next election. 
The supporters of General Jacks. m, known throughout 
the Union as "the Jackson party," dwelt with great 
vehemence upon the circumstances attending the de- 
feat of their candidate by the coalition of the sup- 
porters of Clay and Adams. The popular verdict in 
1828 was in favor of General Jackson. To his suc- 
cess, no man in Pennsylvania contributed so much as 
Mr. Dallas. Through his agency, the friend- of Cal- 
houn were rallied to the support of Jackson; the 
pretensions of the former having been abated, in the 
prior canvass, from the first to the second office in 
the government. 

But the point to which I ask your attention is 
this : the party divisions, at that time, at least on the 
surface, were indicated by personal preferences, rather 
than by distinctive political principles. The aspiring 
men of that day agreed, ostensibly . "ii bo many point-. 
thai the} were greatly in want of some public question 
upon which to divide into parties. Ten years before, 

they had buried out of their sight tin- dangerous 
sectional question of slavery, and they were too 
wise to disinter it. It was the hank question that 
was t<> furnish an issue i'^v the Presidential election 

of L832. 



25 

Mr. Clay writes in May, 1831, in a published 
letter-: 

" I need not say that my constitutional doctrines are those of the 
epoch of 1798. I hold to the principles of Mr. Malison, as promulgated 
through the Virginia Legislature. I have never altered my constitutional 
opinions which I ever entertained and publicly expressed, except upon the 
hank question; and the experience of th ; late war changed mine and ale 
every other person's, who had been against the power of chartering it." 

Some time before this date, the bank question had 
been brought prominently forward by Gen. Jackson. 
Mr. Bancroft and Mr. C. J. Ingersoll both say that 
he intended to take his position upon it in bis inau- 
gural address; but yielded to the suggestion that the 
subject was more appropriate in a communication to 
the legislative body. Accordingly, in his first mes- 
sage, in December, 1829, it was introduced with these 
words : 

"In order to avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy, in a measure 
involving such important principles and such deep pecuniary interests, I 
feel that I cannot, in justice to the parties interested, too soon present it to 
the deliberate consideration of the Legislature and the people." 

To this he added an unequivocal declaration of 
his own hostility to the Bank. He again introduced 
the subject, in his successive messages of 1830 and 
1831. 

On the other hand, Mr. Clay was equally ready 
for the question. In December, 1831, his friends 
assembled in convention at Baltimore, and nominated 
him for the Presidency, as the candidate of the party 
then termed " National Republican," and afterwards 
"Whig." This convention issued an address in which 
they formally accepted the issue which, they affirmed, 
had been tendered by President Jackson. Their ad- 
dress, after an emphatic approval of the bank, said : 



26 

" Such i. ; the institution which tl .'lent has gone out of his way 

in Be vera] su< -. without a j r< I ty or plausible 

motive, in the first instance Biz years before his suggestion could with 
any propriety be acted upon, to denounce to Com a sort of nuisance, 

and consign, as far as his influence extends, to immediate destruction." 

All to which I have thus far adverted had. as you 
see by the dates, occurred before the bank applied to 
Congress for re-charter. Its application was first pre- 
sented by Mr. Dallas, in the Senate, on the 9th of 
January, 1832. Those who had in charge the interests 
of the bank had earnestly endeavored to keep it out 
of politics; but when they saw it. without their 
agency, become the political question of the day. they 
submitted to necessity, and made their application at 
the best time possible, under the circumstances. A 
majority in its favor was certain, and "two-thirds" 
possible in both houses of Congress, and in ease of a 
veto, there was an immediate appeal to the people. 
Some have fancied that General Jackson was willing 
to temporize and waive his objections, if the question 
of re-charter were kept hack till after his second elec- 
tion ; but this notion is not consistent with the char- 
acter of General Jackson, nor with any established 
facts. 

It is true, that in a political struggle on the bank 
question the event seemed dubious. The friends of 
Mr. Clay were sanguine and eager to make the issue; 
many friends of General Jackson were anxious to 
avoid it; but he himself, with the political Bagacity 
for which he was remarkable, saw clearly that he 
was on the more popular side of the question. " Wait 
till you hear from the cross roads." he said to his 
friends who were alarmed at demonstrations in the 
commercial cities. 



27 

The bank question had then, in 1832, a triple 
aspect. It had long been a question of finance and 
of constitutional law, in both of which the prepon- 
derance of authority was in its favor. Men differing 
as widely as Alexander Hamilton and Alexander 
Dallas, had agreed in advocating a National Bank. 
It was the first proposal of Alexander Dallas on enter- 
ing the Treasury, and he never ceased to urge it, till 
his views prevailed in the charter that was drawing 
to its expiration at the time of which I speak. The 
opinion of Mr. George Dallas, in 1832, upon the bank, 
in its financial and constitutional aspects, was the same 
as his father's. But a new consideration now super- 
vened. It was probable, almost certain, that if the bank 
were not re-chartered, it would be made a leading issue 
in the coming canvass between General Jackson and 
Mr. Clay. All the political ties and feelings of Mr. 
Dallas were with General Jackson; he had helped to 
advance him to the Presidency, and no man was more 
determined to keep him there. 

Mr. Dallas, therefore, assumed a position in which 
there was no inconsistency, and which left no one in 
doubt of his intentions. Although the application 
for the re-charter of the bank was made, at that time, 
contrary to his wishes, he determined to vote for it 
while it was a measure of financial legislation, to pass 
it if possible, and put it at rest. If not passed, and 
if made a political issue in the coming canvass, he 
would stand as he had stood in the former canvass, 
the friend and supporter of General Jackson. In 
short, as a Senator of the United States, lie intended 
to exercise his constitutional power in favor of the 



2S 

bank; but, if the constitutional power of the Execu- 
tive were exercised against it, that would be to him, 
individually, no reason for abandoning General Jack- 
son and joining Mr. Clay, in the approaching canvass 
for the Presidency. The legislature of Pennsylvania, 
in April. 1831, had recommended the re-charter of the 
bank, and. in February. L832, "instructed" the Sena- 
tors from the State to vote lor it. Mr. Dallas, on the 9th 
of January, L832, presented the application of the bank, 
and in a speech on the occasion made his own position 
perfectly intelligible, as I have ju>t defined it. He 
adhered to it with perfect consistency. He voted 
for the bill to re-charter the hank in every Btage of 
it- passage through the legislative body of which lie 
was a member. In the political canvass which 
ensued, between General Jackson and Mr. Clay for 
the Presidency, into which the hank question entered 
Largely, Mr. Dallas sustained Gen. Jackson before the 
people, and again contributed to his success. In Bub- 
sequent phases of the United States Bank controversy 
the opinion of Mr. Dallas was expressed against it. 
Jlis only official action on it. however, was in the 
Senate, in L832, where, I have always thought, he 
acted frankly and fairly, in a position of some 
embarrassment. 

These observations of interest occur in his diary 
of this period : 

On the 9th of January, L832, he makes the fol- 
Lowing entry : 

"Well! my I h in was made this morning, ] 

il of thr bank. It was well r< ind, it' I 

i exactly the position 1 wished to occupy. The d 
attention with which I w was near uj Fortu- 

ible t" be bi 



29 



There is another entry on the subject, made the 
next evening : 

"It was a singular sensation I experienced on reading my first, sho 
b, in the National ! icer this morning. J wish it had bei 

little longer. What says my mother to my first Btep in legislative life 
in defense of my fathers favorite offspring?" 

Another important subject agitated the country 
during Mr. Dallas's term of service in the Senate. It 
was the "nullification" movement in South Carolina. 
Without entering much into details, I may state that 
Mr. Dallas sustained General Jackson's administration 
heartily, in all its measures at that juncture. In his 
first session, when ominous threatenings of disunion 
mingled in the discussions of the tariff, Mr. Dallas 
met them with great spirit. Against those "avIio 
should recklessly involve the American people in the 
horrors, uncertainties, and fatal consequences of civil 
war," he invoked " an immortality of detestation." 
Those were his words. In the next session, he spoke 
at length in favor of the bill for the collection of 
duties, commonly called the "force bill," and voted 
for it. In short, he fully shared the councils of Jack- 
son and the spirit that animated them. In saying 
this, however, it is due to both these eminent men to 
indicate with more precision what the spirit was that 
guided them happily through dangers so like those in 
which we have been less fortunate. 

The public men of our day who have discarded 
" compromise" as a mode of allaying national discord, 
dwell with some complacency upon the example of 
Jackson. It is not uncommon to hear eii<-<niiiiiin< 
passed upon the Btern, uncompromising spirit which 
is ascribed to him. A publication made during the 



30 

pasl year, throws some light upon this subject. I 
refer to the memoirs of Kdward Livingston. In them is 
stated, -what was known before to many, that he wrote 
the President's celebrated "proclamation" of Decem- 
ber, 1832. Yet, for one, and but one passage in it. 
General Jackson furnished his own draft, in writing. 
He sent it to Mr. Livingston in the following note : 

Dear Sib : I Bubmit the above as the conclusion of the | aion, 

for your amendment and revision. Let e your best Might of elo- 

quence to strike the heart, and speak to the feelings of my deluded coun- 
trymen of South Carolina. The Union must be preserved without blood, 
if possible; but it must be preserved at all hazards, and at any price. 

Yours, with high respect, 

Andrew Jacksos. 
Dec. 4, 1832—11 o'clock, P. M. 

What was thus, furnished by Jackson, amplified 
by Livingston, became that beautiful and persuasive 
passage in the proclamation, beginning : 

"Fellow citizens of my native State: — Let me not only admonish yon 
as the first Magistrate of our common country, not to incur the penall 

a-, inn use the influence that a father would over his children whom 
he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal Lang with that pa- 

ri feeling, let me tell you, my countrymen, that you are deluded by 
men who are either deceived themselves or wish to deceive you." 

This spirit was not less shown in acts than in 
words. The proclamation itself admitted the unequal 
burdens of the tariff, and declared, to quote its Language, 
thai "the condition of the country imperiously de- 
manded such a modification of the duties as should 
reduce them to a just and equitable scale." A bill 
for this purpose, known as Verplanck's bill, was im- 
mediately reported to the House of Representatives 
from its Committee of Ways and Means. This was 
the administration measure; but General Jackson 
acquiesced in, at least he sinned, the substitute for it. 
prepared in the Senate by Clay in concert with Cal- 



31 

houn, continuing - , on a descending scale, protective 
duties for nine years; an enactment known in history 
as the compromise of 1833. 

None ever doubted the courage and vigor of Jack- 
son; let us leave him, too, the glory of wisdom and 
moderation in the dangers to our country which he 
thus happily surmounted. In his vigor and in his 
moderation he had the support of Dallas. He writes 
in his diary, in December, 1832 : 

" I told the President that public sentiment would sustain him in in- 
flexible firmness, unmingled with the least passion." 

I observe, however, that on the passage of Clay 
and Calhoun's bill in the Senate, the vote of Mr. 
Dallas is recorded against it. 

Declining to be a candidate for re-election to the 
Senate, he now returned to professional life. In this 
I have described him as far as my limits allow. I 
mention only that it was at this time that he held 
the office of Attorney General of Pennsylvania, by 
appointment of Governor Wolf. In 1837, the Presi- 
dent elect, Mr. Van Buren, two weeks before his inau- 
guration, wrote to Mr. Dallas, explaining that there 
would be no change in the Cabinet, as appointed by 
General Jackson, except in the Department of War, 
and this, according to certain principles of geograph- 
ical representation, would be filled from the south. 
He concluded by inviting Mr. Dallas to accept the 
mission to Russia. After some consideration he ac- 
cepted it. Before his departure, a public dinner was 
given to him by the Bench and the Bar of Philadel- 
phia. The proceedings on the occasion evinced the 
warm regard felt for him by his professional brethren, 



32 



to which he was deeply Bensible, and his diary records 
"the intense gratification" which he derived from it. 
He writes : 

" How shall I put down a correct idea of the dinn.-r given to me, on 
tlic 14th, by the Bench and the liar'.' Nothing more ap] 
and well attended can be imagined. * * * * The presentation i 
gold snurf box, and my brief reply, were foil 

"ii such occasions at ribahle. 1 do not I that out 

company of eighty, t jo persons who did i. 

my own excitement and intense grati ., I can never forget them, as 

long as 1 live. When I delivered my parting toast, and walked towards 
the dour, ev<-rv gentleman rose, and met me I hands and bid good- 

"— April 16, 18 . 

He remained at St. Petersburg till October, 1839, 
when, at his own request, he was re-called by Presi- 
dent Van Buren. 

Mr. Dallas had an aptitude, though not, I think. 
a fondness for diplomatic life. Be was thoroughly 
conversant with the national interests and foreign 
relations of his country. His manners and accom- 
plishments made him very acceptable in European 
society. French, which is the universal language of 
courts, he spoke fluently; I do not know whether he 
possessed any other foreign languages for colloquial 
use, but he was familiar with the literature of most 
of them. I shall enter into no details of the mi — ion 
to Russia. The history of our relations with that 
friendly power has never been diversified h\ any ex- 

>i « * 

citing incidents, and 1 may pass it with the observa- 
tion of the moralist: "happy is the nation wli 
annals are dull!" You would not find it dull, it" time 
permitted me to give the many remarks of interest 

Contained in Mr. Dallas's diary, which was kept at 
this period with more regularity than usual. The 
following must suffice: 



33 



Decembeb 10, L837. 



No one can imagine with what unwearied delight I read the reports of 
our congressional proceedings, and all American state papers. It is not 
raerelv a habit and a taste for tins sort of to i-tter, but when contrasted with 
what 'is seen and beard around me, the real tones of free government and 
liberal reason are like the witchery of the .Eolian harp. I must Btay bere 
very very long before 1 can acquire a relish for the unnatural condition of 
humanity that exists. It is all very well, while we are in the drawing 
room, or pampering our own vanities; there is an order, a tranquility and 
bboul military despotism and its Bystem which seem congenial 
to the idle and degenerate moments of our nature. But reared where and 
a< 1 have been reared, and knowing how, occasionally at least, to think 

[nothing better than myself, and beyond my imme hate circle, the great 
and glorious sounds that break in upon the stillness of absolutism from 
across the Atlantic, act upon me as do the warblings of a Hying bird upon 
one that listens in his cage. I am inclined to rise and sing also ; I walk 
up and down, excited if not elevated; and my patriotism becomes a source 
of the keenest possible enjoyment. If an American wants to find out the 
way to love his country, her institutions, and her noble and athletic stand 
in support of liberty and universal happiness, let him come to some regions 
like these, and be the recipient of such articles as the President's message, 
Mr. Calhoun's, Mr. Benton's, Mr. Adams', and Mr. Rives' speeches. Let me 
add Mr. Webster's; for though he seems to me to breathe forth less of the 
great western Republic than the others, yet he certainly belongs to the choir 
who kindle and confirm their countrymen, when away from party strife in 

gn lands." Jan. 7: "Visit the Imperial Library, K.iO.OOO volumes, most 
of them obtained from the libraries of Polish nobles, whose estates had 
been confiscated." * * * * " Household servants are, represented to 
be secret agents — a matter of no importance to me — I have nothing to con- 
ceal." * * * * In despotic governments fears of conspiracy and 
change are always more or less afloat. The agents of the police keep these 
fears alive as necessary to their own importance." 

October 7, 1837, he makes a minute of a conversa- 
tion with another diplomatist: 

"I regretted the extreme difficulty of acquiring information as to the 
finances, jurisprudence and public system of Russia; and doubted the wis- 
dom of the profound mystery with which everything of thesort was envel- 
oped Ee had experienced the same feelings, on his early coming. Nothing 

unable except by conversation. The public journals we re w 
than useless; the public officers were subordinate in rank and inn I 
and as incapable as afraid to say much. The best resorts were the old mem- 

of the diplomatic corps, who had managed, by long and unceasing 
efforts, to get correctly informed, it was, however, vain to expect here the 
same facilities as are enjoyed in America or England. As to the finances, 
no one could pretend to know more* about them than their striking results." 

On his return from Russia, in 1839, Mr. Dallas 
again resumed the practice of the law, reclaiming, with 
little delay or difficulty, his high place in the profes- 
sion. From this he was withdrawn by his election in 



34 

1844, as Vice President of the United States, for 
which office he had bees nominated, he afterwards said. 
•■without the slightest knowledge, or expectation, or 
desire on his part."' Indeed, the name of Mr. Dallas, 
though often associated in the public mind with the 
Presidency, had not. prior to tins nomination, been 
mentioned in connection with the Vice Presidency. 
In this high and peculiar position in the government, 
his relations with the President. Mr. Polk, were alwa \ a 
cardial, and he exercised much influence in the ad- 
ministration, and still more in the body over which 
he presided. There his dignified, yet winning man- 
ners, uniform courtesy and fairness, and ample stores 
of information added to the authority which his 
official station gave him. The traditions of the Senate 
ascribe to no one of his eminent predecessors a supe- 
riority to Mr. Dallas, as a presiding officer. The 
most marked event of this administration was the 
war with Mexico. I cannot say to what extent Mr. 
Dallas was consulted in the conduct of it : he cer- 
tainly, 1 think, contributed largely to its success. I 
can maintain this somewhat paradoxical assertion. 
At the beginning of the Mar. a strange intrigue — 
personal rather than political — so worked upon Presi- 
denl Polk as to induce him to ask authority from 
Congress to appoint an officer to outrank all the gen- 
erals in the field. There was no disguise of his in ten- 
tion to confer the new grade upon Mr. Benton, then 
a Senator from Missouri. It is not easy t<> -a\ what 
might have been the consequence if this project 
had succeeded. No man rates higher than I do the 
valor of the American soldier, hut I have read in 



35 

history of the veterans of Napoleon, led bv an incom- 
petent general, surrendering to a Spanish mob; and 
I fear there would have been a very different chapter 
in the history of our war with Mexico, if the little 
army which the genius of Scott marshaled to victory, 
had been turned over, insulted and disheartened, to 
the guidance of a politician 

"That never set a squadron in the field, 
Nor the division of a battle knew, 
More than a spinster." 

A bill to authorize the appointment actually passed 
the House of Representatives, but was defeated in the 
Senate. That Mr. Dallas's intiuence was thrown 
against it there, I know ; and I claim for him a full 
share of the blame which Mr. Benton, in his memoirs, 
easts upon three members of the cabinet — Marcy, 
Walker, and Buchanan — for the frustration of his 
scheme. Purposing to speak only of those events in 
this administration in which I can distinctly trace the 
action of the Vice President, I will now mention that he 
gave the casting vote in favor of the tariff act of 1846, 
thus repealing the prior act of 1842. In doing so, he 
gave his reasons, briefly and conclusively, in an ad- 
dress to the Senate. He said he was convinced that 
the majority of the States needed and desired a change 
in the tariff. " He did not feel at liberty to counteract, 
by his single vote, the general will." These points 
being argued at some length he proceeds to say : "The 
Vice President, now called upon to act, is the direct 
agent and representative of the whole people." This 
was no doubt intended as his answer to a local cry 
that reached him, calling upon him, as a Pennsyl- 
vania^ to give his decisive vote in favor of that 



36 

tariff which afforded the larger measure of protection 
to our local interests. In another communication to 

the public, he further said upon this point : 

"The two i: of Pennsylvania, al"iut which much anxiety was 

manifested — the iron and coal interests — will i and 

xperience the injuri Id. But, is il irupright 

monwealth can for one moment demand that an v the 

suffrages of all the twenty-eight States, and bound by his oath and i 

thfully and fairly to represent, in I ution 

lit' bis high trust, all I '.1 the Union, should narrow his great 

.-[In re and act with reference only to her peculiar v. . 

He also adverted to the fact that he had been 
nominated and elected to the Vice Presidency upon 
a platform of principles which contained the following 
explicit declaration : 

Resolved, "That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Govern- 
ment to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to 
cherish the in irtion to the injury of another portion of our 

country." 

To this he added that he had never during the late 
canvass assumed any position, or made or authorized 
any declaration inconsistent with this, the avowed 
principle of his party, upon the subject of protection. 
1 believe this statement of Mr. Dallas, as to his own 
personal attitude in the canvass of 1844 — and it was 
of that he spoke — has not been, and cannot be con- 
troverted. 

Mi-. Dallas also used his influence in favor of the 
ratification of the treaty of peace with Mexico, the 
terms of which were assailed as too magnanimous 
towards a defeated enemy. He published a letter in 
which he showed that the policy of the government 
iii being Liberal was not the less sound. 

I fe -aid : 

•Tlic peace whether conquered or purchased must be regarded as an 
illustration of American magnanimity. What other government under the 
circui i would havi it? What other] xrould ha\ 



in the hoar of consummate triumph and * * * * have instantly shut 
their hearts against ambitious aspirations, and stretched forth their hands 
to renew the relations of amity ' Such a course always lias been and 
always will 1"' sneered at by monarchies. Traceable equally to the !■ 
and temperate character of our citizens, and to the beneh. ter of 

our institutions, n is wholly an American a< t. 

Yet, in one contingency, he confessed that peine 
might become a subject of regret. This passage in 
his letter seems now so prophetic, that it is due to 
him to quote it : 

"I must confess that the peace with Mexico would be more satisfactory 
to a reflecting judgment were the prospects of domestic government and of 
foreign intrusion in that country less unpromising than tiny arc Shall 
we admit no reproaches, no regrets, if she sink the victim of savage anar 
or more savage military despotism '.' Should the scion of some stump of 
royalty, as a ward of European policy and power, bent upon inoculatnm 
this continent with their degrading and pernicious system, be sent 

;>ted to her chief magistracy, might not a tardy and vain repentance 
follow ? 

The struggle between the fundamental and antagonistic principles of 
human association would at once be transferred from the eastern herni- 
sphere, where for ages and over myriads it has rioted in blood, pauperism, 
and oppression, bigotry, and ignorance. It would have been better to ex- 
punge the name of Mexico from the map forever." 

This letter was published in June, 1849. 

His views upon the questions of Texas and of 
Oregon I shall not present in detail. The views of 
Mr. Dallas, as a statesman, on these and like ques- 
tions, were always bold and comprehensive. In 
speaking upon a local topic he once said : 

" We have long since disproved and repudiated the lethargic maxim of 
Dr. Johnson : 'Extended empire, like expanded gold, i solid sub- 

e for feeble splendor.' Such a principle is unsound in application to 
American institutions. We have never yet been debilitated by enls 
ment, whether of city, state or nation." 

To all fears of weakness or division, he opposed 
the peculiar structure of our institutions, that left all 
local interests to local administration, and united the 
whole by the cohesion of the general interests center- 
ing in one federal head. 



38 

From the Vice Presidency, he returned to the bar. 
resuming' and pursuing his practice with his usual 
success and assiduity. Among occasional appearances 
upon the public scene was an address delivered at a 
great Union meeting in November, 1850, over which 
John Sergeant presided. It was a meeting of Whigs 
and Democrats, to sustain the measures advocated by 
Clay, and Webster, and Crittenden, and Cass, and 
Douglas, and approved, as laws of the United States, 
by Millard Fillmore. You will, of course, expect me, 
in sketching the life of a lately deceased American 
statesman, to make some mention of his views upon 
that question which, more than any other in our day, 
has agitated, or rather convulsed the American mind. 
I cannot, I think, present them more unexceptional >ly. 
than in the language which he himself used, to an 
assemblage which was scrupulously divested of any 
partizan character; on this occasion he uttered no 
opinions that were not fully shared and sanctioned 
by the eminent jurists and statesmen whose names I 
have just mentioned. Mr. Dallas offered the resolu- 
tions, prepared by a committee, urging obedience to 
the laws in question. Speaking of them, he said : 

"One of these has already become the sabjeel of serious discussion, and 
of alarming movement; that is the act, entitled " An a sup- 

■rij to the act resp from justice, and pert tying 

from the service of their masters, approved on the 12th February, 1793," and 
authenticated by the illustrious signatures of George Washington, John 
A 'lams, and Jonathan Trumbull. This acl is denounced ; it lias been made 
the basis of lawless and criminal violence; il bas tra a of 

aullification from Charleston to Boston; it is made the pretext for :i course 

unbilled and simultaneous action, subversive of established authority 
and order, and fatal, if m I, to the government under which we 

I Bay that this fugitive slave law, in its - details, in all us 

features and all its provisions is in perfect harmony with the Constitu 
of our country. Of the twelve States whi affixed their honored 

names, in convention, to that instrument, one only was. even in appearance, 
divested of Blavery. That condition of labor was familiar to them all; and 



39 

a Federal Union which did not provide for absolute security, amid the 
seductions and facilities to escape consequent upon the creation of closer 
political ii<-s. was an unattainable work of which they nevi r dreamed. 

They who framed our Constitution were neither fanciful nor fanatic. 
They laid the broad foundation of a Union of sovereign States in a practical 
manner and for perpetual duration. They discarded I topian notions. 
They took tb - as they found them, with their respective 

usages and habits and institutions, over which, for change or modifi- 
cation, they knew and felt they possessed no delegated powei whal 
Their object was a general government for purposes common to all their 
constituent commonwealths, and not a government whose consolidated 
powers would reach into domestic jurisdictions and over-ride or absorb 
mere local institutions and laws. 

ii, I say, this fugitive slave law is just * * * *; and finally, 
fellow citizens, i say this law is an expedient one. After too tranquilly 
witnessing for the last twenty years, the progress of an imported fanaticism 
in its efforts to depreciate our constitution, and gradually to weaken the 
bonds of our union, the critical moment has come for deciding whether we 
will hold fast to the glorious government of our fathers, or immolate it at 
the shrine of reckless, senseless, remorseless abolition. I solemnly believe 
the country to be staked on the permanency and stern execution of this law. 
We should endeavor to rouse and rectify a public opinion that has remained 
too long and too injuriously inert. If ever it has pleased the Almighty to 
give his blessing to any form of temporal polity, it was bestowed upon that 
of our Union. To continue worthy of that blessing, it must be upheld in 
its original purity : — and I know no mode so certain of preserving and sus- 
taining it as good faith in fulfilling every one of its obligations, towards 
every one of its members." 

He improved the occasion to say a few words to 
his native State : 

"Nor is this enough for us of Pennsylvania to do. We have unguard- 
edly, heretofore, lent a hand to impair the true spirit and meaning of the 
federal compact, by legislating adversely to the constitutional right of pur- 
suing fugitives from labor. That legislation has tended to bring into ques- 
tion our fidelity to the fixed guarantee of the Union, and has, in some degree, 
encouraged those who would cheerfully trample or break through the con- 
stitution and rend the Union, if in so doing they can put an end to southern 
slavery. Are we not bound then to invoke the legislature to repeal all the 
acts inconsistent with the integrity and harmony of the Union, and espe- 
cially to repeal those laws which inflict penalties on such of our magistracy 
as shall aid in sustaining our federal faith, and which deny the use of our 
prisons tb citizens engaged in executing the federal laws." 

I make these extracts, because they give, in his 
own words, the views of Mr. Dallas on the subject, 
and also because they show his frank, bold way of 
treating public questions, in direct, plain terms — not 
in vague generalities or with apologetic qualifications 
of what he believed to be the truth. This was a 



40 



characteristic of his style of public speaking. It 

was never coarse or personal, but it was always 
explicit and manly, and left no one in doubt of his 



meaning. 



Mr. Dallas's last and longest term of service in 

O 

public office was as minister to England. Ee went 
upon this mission in 1856 and returned in 1861. 
During this time, serious complications occurred in 
our relations with Great Britain, one of which led 
to the dismissal of its minister. Mr. Crampton, by our 
government. It was not, however, retaliated upon 
Mr. Dallas; and in this juncture and others which 
arose in the discussions of the "Clayton Bulwer 
Treaty" and the "Right of Search." his wise and 
temperate action contributed largely to the preserva- 
tion of peace between the two countries. The diplo- 
matic business which occupied him during the whole 
period of his stay in England, Mas intricate, volumi- 
nous, and important. 1 shall say nothing more of it. 
except that Mr. Dallas had prepared for publication a 
work which he entitled "A Series of letter- from Lon- 
don, written during the years 1856, '57, '•">>. '59 and 
"cn." by George Mifflin Dallas, then Minister of the 
United States at the British Court. These letters 
were distinct from his official dispatches and corre- 
spondence, and embrace a greater variety of topics. 
In a preface to them, he says : 

"There were many in. . I with tl rican 

Minister in London, from L861, which may illy, and perhaps 

reeably, recalled from the oblivion into which they must oth< i 
a. Todothis.no departure from the reticence lastingly exacted by 
ic function is i i ry. A book in which tl 

Bations of Paris, at the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, are portrayed 
by a J'.niisli diplomat, was doubtfully I, because this reserve was in 

a measure relaxed. I imple should be followed with watchful 

raint." 



41 

I attempt no extracts from what is all arranged for 
complete public information. Mr. Dallas's reputation 
in literature will rest mainly on this work and the 
life of A. J. Dallas, yet in manuscript. He was, 
however, the author of a large number of published 
orations, speeches, public letters, &c. These I shall 
not enumerate. A correct list of them may be found 
in Allibone's Dictionary of English Literature. 

At various periods of his life he kept, in a desul- 
tory way, a diary, in which he entered his thoughts 
and observations. It was intended, probably, only for 
his own eye, or that of domestic affection. For entries 
upon topics suggested by me, this diary has been 
searched, and extracts kindly made, some of which I 
have laid before you. 

He at one time thought of writing, from these and 
other materials, a life of himself, and he actually made 
a beginning ; but it only adds one more to the many 
instances in literary history of such a purpose enter- 
tained and almost as soon abandoned. It is to be 
regretted in this, and, indeed, in every instance, for 
" autobiography" is always true. He who writes his 
own life, let him say what he will, paints his own 
character, and the few full lives of eminent men from 
their own hands are the most interesting memoirs that 
literature contains. 

In the remarks with which I have too long de- 
tained you, I have endeavored, as much as possible, 
to avoid the topics of local, controversial politics. 
Much might be said of Mr. Dallas in that sphere, 
and all to his honor. But I have kept in mind, in 
preparing to address this audience, that it assembles 



42 

upon the invitation of the Barof Philadelphia, which, 
as a body, knows no party, though among it- members 
it always numbers distinguished men of everj party. 
You, too, I hope, have borne in mind, that my duty 
here, to-night, is to speak of one \\ hose chief eminence, 
out of the profession, was in political life; and I must. 
to sonic extent, speak of politics or be silent upon the 
most important incidents of his career. M\ recital 
brings me now. to a time very near the present — the 
time of Mr. Dallas's return from England. 

He had left his country great, and prosperous, and 
happy, and with some complacency he might have 
said that he had helped to make it so. He found his 
country rent by civil war, and feeble against foreign 
enemies, while its embattled hosts shook the earth as 
they marched to mutual slaughter. It would be an 
omission marked b} T all were I to say nothing of the 
attitude of Mr. Dallas at ;i period the most momentous 
of any in his long experience of the world. 1 trust, 
however, that 1 shall not seem unmindful of the de- 
corum of the occasion, nor of the feelings of any whom 
1 address. 

I shall not enter into the exciting controversies of 
the day. I do not need to do so. for in them Mr. 
Dallas bore no part. We bandy to and fro. in our 
political discussions, the shame and the blame that 
will rest somewhere for peace broken, tree governmenl 
discredited, and civil liberty in danger. But, here 
.ind now. 1 have only to sa\ that of the shame and 
the blame no part attaches to George Milllin Dallas. 

lie was away — during all thai period of precious time 

ill-spent in vain discussions and bootless efforts, which 



' 43 

failed to avert civil war. He was away: and to the 

world and to posterity, to every tribunal human and 
divine, he can plead that he was guiltless of his coun- 
try's blood. In the technical language of the law, he 
can prove an alibi. 

Vet absence never chilled his solicitude for his 
country, nor dimmed his foresight of the evils thai 
threatened it. Just after the presidential election of 
1856, a time when many statesmen deemed all danger 
over, and many who arrogated to themselves that 
title scoffed at the idea that there ever was or 
could be danger to the Union, I find Mr. Dallas 
waiting from London to a friend in this city, Mr. 
Thomas J. Miles, on the 25th of November, 1856, 
as follows : 

"The distractions which, at tins di I to convuls n 

country, ever since the presidential nominal ions, have awakened within me 
sad and - mxiety as to the fate to which we may be destined. This 

frightful sectionalism, dividing us into North and South, givin 
former the power of population and of fanatical fierceness, and to the I 
the strength of Constitutional right and of social necessity, presents an 
aspect of things which would seem, for the purpose of rescue ami sal 
almost to demand the interposition of Providence. How else is tin- Red 
Sea to be traversed? Where is the wisdom, where the self-sacrificing 
patriotism, the broad honor and continental nationality of s 7 and '89? 
* What I fear is that no one will appreciate the immi- 
nence of the danger. * * * This subject goes into my 
feelings, owing to my being in the midst of those who show a profound 
a.-ity td understand the fed ture of our government, and 
keenly set on their press, their pulpits, their lecturers, their speakers, 
■ j, their poets and their historians, to prci ering 
chorus for the subversion of a Constitution which shelters the Southern 
form of African labor from their crusade." 

Mr. Dallas reached his home on the 1st of dime. 
1861. 

The attitude he took, in the disastrous condition 
of affairs in which he found his country, 1 shall show 
by his words and actions, mingling with the recital 
no comment of my own. 



44 

Soon after he reached his home in Philadelphia, 
a considerable number of his townsmen went together 
to bis house to oiler to him their congratulations upon 
his safe return. In a few brief remarks, he thanked 
them for their visit and the kindness that prompted 
it. In speaking of the times, his thoughts reverted 
to his own service in the Senate, when " Secession. " 
under the guise of " Nullification," had claimed, as a 
reserved right of each State, the right, at pleasure, to 
dissolve the Union. He said that what was perhaps 
meditated at Hartford in 1814 had been attempted 
by South Carolina in 1832. But he said "the Sena- 
tors from this good old commonwealth who were 
William Wilkins, of Pittsburg, and myself, steadily 
insisted upon hoisting the stars and stripes high above 
the palmetto." His resolve was still the same. He 
concluded his address with these emphatic words : 

"I come back to you, gentlemen, overwhelmed, it is true with grief at 
th>' national calamity, bul unaltered in my inflexible determination to stand, 

'"in'- weal or woe, powerless I confess, but unwaveringly, by the Union, 
the whole Union, the Union forever." 

Some time after, in the same year, he was invited 
to deliver an oration at a "Celebration of the seventy- 
fourth anniversary of the signing of the Constitution 
of the United States." 

1 need not sav that the devotion of his lite to that 
great charter of free government found utterance in 
eloquent words, which, let us hope, sank deep into 
the hearts of all who heard them. The brief creed 

of the old Statesman was "the Union and the Con- 
stitution;" he had learned it from his father's lips, 
and he gave it. as his best lesson, to the generation 
that was succeeding him upon the public stage. All 



45 

his life, he was a staunch supporter of the reserved 
rights of the States, in which are involved the near 
and dear and special interests of every citizen, lie 
held up the broad shield of the Federal Constitution 
to defend, and not to crush them; and he stood 
opposed to all who would deprive them of its shelter. 
Therefore, quite early in his career, in a speech at 
Pittsburg, he denounced the attempt to impose 
unconstitutional restrictions on Missouri ; therefore, 
with his latest breath, he denounced the false and 
suicidal doctrine of "secession." His clear mind saw 
what the best minds of the South saw also — that the 
way to defend the citadel of constitutional liberty was 
to strengthen its garrison, to man its ramparts ; not 
to march out and abandon them before a practicable 
breach was made by their assailants. Looking to 
the interests of his whole country, Dallas demanded 
from the people of the Southern States, for their sake 
and our own, the observance of the Federal compact 
that their fathers made with ours. He made no 
rasures in that solemn act; he interpolated no new 
terms; and asking what was just and offering what 
was just, he did not despair of the republic. His last 
public utterance was like the last words of the great 
Earl of Chatham, whose dying accents warned a 
besotted ministry to act justly by the people of 
America, and who died exclaiming, "I will never 
consent to a dismemberment of the empire." 

In private intercourse he gave his opinions freely 
to those who enjoyed his confidence. His hopes for 
the future of our country were consistent with the 
political opinions of his life. He looked for the sal- 



46 

ration of free institutions through the reascendency, 
in the administration of the government, of those 
principles which he, and his father before him, deemed 
indispensable to its existence as a government lit for 
a free people. 

I am not informed of any other assemblages of a 
public character which he took part in, or attended, 
after his return from England. At every election. 
however, he exercised his franchise as a citizen. As 
facts essential to complete my notice of his political 
course, I mention thai in 18G3, when our present 
Chief Justice was a candidate for governor of Pennsyl- 
vania, .Mr. Dallas voted for him; and in 1864. lie voted 
for the electoral ticket of McClellan and Pendleton. 

His remaining years were not spenl in repose. He 
did not, 1 think, on any occasion, appear in the courts; 
hut large and important interests sought in his expe- 
rience and integrity a fit guardianship, and he was 
busy to the end of a life protracted beyond tin- " three- 
score years and ten" that are assigned as the common 
limit to human activity and enjoyment. 

He died on the last day of the year L864, with no 
premonition from serious illness. But he who lives 
the life that he did, need not care how suddenly it is 
taken from him. Apter reflections than 1 could make 
on the event are furnished by the diary of .Mr. Dallas; 
they were written nearly thirty years before his own 

decease : 

" 1 rrief is perhaps always -.-ltish : we wish that to have occurred which 
would have brought the catastrophe with the least <lii»-k i" ourselves; an 

\ '", mi! ly, led i" wis! 1 that the suffering of a dear friend might 

-"••I. that light slowly have become accustomed 

to tli i['lation of the inevitable end. Death is always an appalling 

object : it must, howe\ ei , b< met by all, and if it come at an advai 



17 

when all the aims of existence have been achieved, and, it' Btriking indie 
criminately al both mind and body al thi ame moment, it closes tl 
with reasonable expedition, where.is the ground of complaint for the living? 
We may mourn, and deeply mourn, thai the course of natun i versus from 
those we love, but it that course be consummated in due Beason, and with 
the least possible pain to the victim, we really have nothing to do but to 
t>ow submissively to the will of God."- Nov. 1, 1837. 

His death, it was thought, was caused l>v disease 
of the heart; if so. the malady had not before be- 
trayed itself, by any apparent symptoms. His health 
had been uniformly good, though not robust, and he 
probably owed it to regularity, temperance and equa- 
nimity of mind. In writing of it quite late in life, 
he says, after mentioning that his had been a sickly 
childhood : 

" My quantum of ill health, endured then, has loft my subsequent life 
almost exempt from complaint of any kind. When I look back and remem- 
ber how little and how lightly disease has visited my body, 1 feel a warm 
and thankful gratitude tor tin- providential indulgence." 

I will add a few words upon points to which I have 
not adverted. 

Of his religious faith, I shall imitate him in- saying 
little. I need not urge for him the plea, 

" His can't l>e wrong, whose life is in the right." 

The faith of Mr. Dallas corresponded to his life 
and works. He was a Christian, as his outward 
practice and recorded meditations prove. He attendee I 
public worship at St. Stephen's, the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, in Tenth, above Chestnut street. 

You all remember his personal appearance, towhich 
his bearing lent a peculiar elegance. His gray, or 
rather white hair had changed to that color very early 
in life, and thus was not, in him, associated with the 
idea of age, but it certainly heightened the dignity 
of his aspect. 



48 

Manners speak to the eye, and words fail to de- 
scribe them. Some might call his imposing, none 
would call them haughty or pretentious ; yet if he had 
conic among a crowd of strangers, all would have 
said "this is sonic man of mark." But his manners 
were not artificial. nor put on for parade; they were the 
natural outward expression of an elevated mind. 
They were democratic in this, that they rendered to 
every man the respect due to his manhood. He was 
as courteous to the poorest as he was to the proudest ; 
yet he never courted popularity by any low art-. 
With him "the people" meant all his fellow citizens, 
and he stood before them in the true dignity and 
decency of his character. He never slandered any 
portion of them by putting on the habits of the pot 
house as the way to their favor. 

No man was a firmer republican; I use tin' word 
in no party sense that it has ever borne. He looked 
closelyinto the structure of foreign governments, and 
he preferred his own. The iron hand of despotic 
power never struck or threatened him; it was gloved 
and jewelled when it welcomed him to its courts. 
But his eye was never dazzled by the pomp and glare 
of royalty; he saw the hollowness of absolutism: and 
his faith in popular government was never a jot abated. 

lie seemed to set little store on wealth. l!is 
means were the current earnings of professional labor. 
or the smaller emoluments of the posts he lilted. In 
all of them his hands were clean : he never left ollice 
richer than he entered it. Sometimes, he may have 
sustained temporary inconvenience from the interrup- 
tions in the regular course of his business. Hut he 



49 

never discounted the future. He preferred to work 
and wait; and soon the sunshine of professional 
success cleared away any clouds that lowered upon 
his path, when, as his father said, "he began the 
world again" in coming back to the Bar, from his 
different terms of public service. As a part of his 
good example, I may not omit to say, that it was. 
through life, a point of pride with him never to 
borrow, and he never did. His intimate friends who 
tell me this, regard it, justly, as a rare point of 
character, under the circumstances, and in our day 
of notes, indorsements, and accommodations. It 
is a trait of the independent spirit that marked 
him in private and public life. Living mainly by 
the practice of the law in a commercial city, he 
did not hesitate, on two important subjects, to run 
counter to what were thought to be its interests. 
Through life he was the champion of the poorer 
many, rather than of the richer few. Yet no 
man was more refined and cultivated in his tastes, 
nor more adapted to the elegant enjoyments that 
may spring from the good use of wealth. He had 
none of the morbid sensibility that cloisters itself 
from contact with the world. He was one of those 
who seek tranquility — not in solitary retreats — but 
in their own hearts, made calm by culture, religion, 
and philosophy. To these, as much as to natural 
temperament, he owed the equanimity of his mind. 
His diary show T s whence he drew support in moments 
of depression : 

"If they grow on mo. I will resort to the only cure, a sincere pray 
Almighty < I <1. whose divine influence, on the mind, at least, I have n 
failed to experience, when fervently invoked. — \0th January, 1832." 



50 

But his temper was generally cheerful. He joined 
in all innocent amusements, and thought the moderate 
enjoyment of them, in the social circle, was the best 
safe-guard for the young against the abuse of them 
elsewhere. He liked society ; he was " an ornament 
to society." and this hackneyed phrase has so just and 
literal a significance, when applied to him, that I do 
not refrain from using it. Yet in a wide and varied 
intercourse with the world, he led as pure a life as 
any that avoids temptation in retirement. From his 
earliest youth, he seems to have set up to himself the 
highest standard of moral purity and to have adhered 
to it, at home and abroad, in the luxurious capitals of 
Europe as in our own national capital, where vice 
loses none of its evil by losing any of its grossness. 

Let us flatter ourselves, if we can, that this eminent 
son of our city was in character and culture peculiarly 
a Philadelphian. Certainly he was deeply imbued 
with the spirit of which the name, at least, is familiar 
to all the dwellers in the city that is called by it. 
The amenity, the genial kindness of his nature shone 
in all his intercourse with his fellow men. His asso- 
ciates, his friends, and in foreign lands all his country- 
men could command his good offices to the extent of 
his power, and he was liberal to the utmost limit of 
his means. 

In each relation, filial, marital, paternal, he per- 
formed his duties with a tenderness and care that may 
exalt ourview of human nature. I feel thai I cannot 
portray the beauty of his domestic life. My deficiency 
may be, in some degree, supplied, by recurring to the 
picture of the father's life, from the son's pen. with 



51 

which I opened this address. In mature years, when 
a family circle had gathered round him, George Dallas, 
1 >y nature rather than by conscious imitation, lived 
himself the life he has described. Both these eminent 
men have left the weight of their authority against 
an austere system of domestic discipline. They were 
the companions of their children, and heightened 
instead of losing their respect, in winning their confi- 
dence and love. 

I have told you the story of his life. My aim has 
been to show it by his own words and actions, adding 
what I knew or learned from those who knew him 
long and well. 

I have now no pomp of phrase, no language of 
conventional eulogy, in which to praise it. Say for 
yourselves, if it was a virtuous, patriotic, memorable 
life — a worthy example to us and to our children. 



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